Dad Tells Dark Side of Son’s Funny Baby Photo Meme

Have you ever wondered what happens to the subject when a kid photo or video goes viral? One father has gone to great lengths to erase his internet presence after he says media outlets went too far to track him down. A Canadian dad named Joel posted his 5-month-old baby’s funny, drunken-looking passport photo on Reddit last month. Users upvoted it to the front page and from there, the picture went viral. Soon, fanswerepostingparodies, featuring the baby doing everything from partying with Led Zeppelin to drunkenly nursing a martini. Local news outlets quickly picked up the story, and that’s when the trouble began.

The Daily Mail ran an article that drew pictures from Joel’s personal twitter account, and outed his family’s planned move to South America, something he had not yet told his friends. Next, in an effort to score an interview, a mix of clever digging and lucky guesswork by ABC found his youtube channel and personal email address. After that, NBC tracked down Joel’s employer. Very quickly, the consequences of sharing a funny picture online spiralled out of control.

It was all too creepy for Joel, who has since made efforts to erase his online footprint, as he told 8BitDad; he has deleted various social media accounts and changed his name on Facebook. He’s had to deal with an invasive media, upset friends and a nosy and judgmental public, things that have traditionally been the problems of the conventionally famous.